Jason Schreier, a gaming journalist from Bloomberg, has shed light on the backstory of the game Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League by Rocksteady Studios, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery, which has recently admitted heavy losses from this game.
The genesis of this game dates back to the success of the Suicide Squad movie in 2016, which generated a whopping $750 million in revenue from a production cost of $175 million. This prompted Warner Bros. to expand into the video game sector. At that time, another studio under the umbrella, WB Games Montréal (known for Batman: Arkham Origins and Gotham Knights), had a Suicide Squad game project in the works but it was still in the conceptual stage. This led David Haddad, Warner’s game business chief, to hand over the project to the strongest studio at the time, Rocksteady in London (renowned for the Batman Arkham series).
After releasing Batman Arkham part three in 2015, Rocksteady wanted to explore new avenues. The founders, Jamie Walker and Sefton Hill, were working on a game called Stones, but towards the end of 2016, they received a directive from the parent company to shift focus to developing the Suicide Squad game instead. The anticipated release was set for 2019 or 2020.
At that time, the gaming industry was abuzz with the long-term trend of live service games, which Warner wanted the Suicide Squad game to align with. This prompted Rocksteady to expand its workforce from 160 to 250 employees. However, this new gaming style was uncharted territory for Rocksteady, known for single-player offline games, causing numerous development challenges due to concept changes and delays.
The game was unveiled in 2020 with a target release in 2022, but ongoing development issues persisted. Sefton Hill, as the game director, being a perfectionist, extensively reviewed all aspects leading to development bottlenecks. The management team remained confident that the game would eventually come together, even though the team felt they may have been too idealistic.
In 2022, the game took a dramatic turn when the two Rocksteady founders announced their resignation before the game’s completion (subsequently unveiling a new studio called Hundred Star Games). Responsibility for the game was then handed over to two senior employees, Nathan Burlow and Darius Sadeghian.
Following a lackluster 10-minute public trailer debut, fans were unimpressed, prompting Warner to delay the release for further improvements. The game was finally launched in February 2024, after seven years of development, but failed to meet expectations with an average review score of 60/100.
Schreier disclosed that some Rocksteady employees are now assisting in the development of Hogwarts Legacy: Director’s Cut, while the studio management is preparing to develop a new single-player game that will take Rocksteady back to its roots.
TLDR: The development journey of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League by Rocksteady Studios faced challenges and changes, leading to delays and a lukewarm reception upon release. Key personnel changes occurred, and the company now looks towards future projects with a renewed focus on single-player games.
Leave a Comment